On Oct. 17, the Inn at Virginia Tech teemed with insects, spiders, millipedes, and other creatures normally found outdoors. It was the fifth annual Hokie BugFest, which attracted 7,020 children and adults from the New River Valley and beyond. This year’s event featured a lineup of entomology exhibits, live arthropods, a flea circus, a spooky spiders’ lair, and glow-in-the-dark millipedes. New this year was a renowned bug chef from Seattle, David George Gordon. Gordon prepared insect delicacies for curious onlookers and explained why eating bugs may be good for you.
Other new attractions included Radford University’s Roachzilla! (giant cockroaches), an exhibit from Bayer Bee Care Center, and a professional face painter. A member of the Virginia Tech Police Department hosted a display on forensics and insects in crime solving. Photographer Deana B. Marion hosted a macro-photography exhibit of bee images. Artist Jane Blevins conducted a bug drawing class with a college theme. And a Virginia Tech biomedical engineering and mechanics lab demonstrated how insects suck up fluids.